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Summer Rolls

The kids made these one day, and I had so much fun watching them. We used baby spinach, shaved carrot, brown rice, and sliced grilled chicken. We also used a sprinkling of mint leaves (our plant hasn’t been that prolific this year).

You can make summer rolls with all kinds of things: rice noodles, shrimp, cooked tofu, sliced beef, lettuce of any kind, sprouts, peppers, scallions, herbs. You’re really just making a wrap out of stuff that will taste good together, and in our case we love to dip them in peanut sauce. My friend tells me that the Vietnamese word for summer rolls translates literally as “rolled salad.”

For detailed summer roll instructions, click here. Just don’t get intimidated by all the detail. Simplify to suit your needs—it’s just a wrap, and after a couple of tries, you’ll get the hang of using the rice wrappers. Our favorite peanut sauce recipe, from The Moosewood Cookbook, is here. For more of my food posts, click here.